References to Popular Culture
Chris d'Lacey has included several references to real-world popular culture within the entirety of The Last Dragon Chronicles. These range from passing references to people or television programmes to more knowing mentions which may not be initially obvious. Due to d'Lacey living in England, several of these nods may be to specifically English things. Television/ Films *In the chapter Dr Bergstrom returns in Fire Star, David mentions the well-known sci-fi series Star Trek: Enterprise, even paraphrasing the well known Star Trek phrase "to boldly go where no man has gone before" as "maybe he's gone too far? Too boldly?" *In A healing crisis from Fire Star, David offhandedly mentions the UK television channel Channel 5 as proof that Golly is good at fixing things. *From the chaper The Fire Eternal ''in the book The Fire Eternal, Golly's tool looks "very similar to the screwdriver used by the time travelling hero of the dragons' favourite television programme." This is a reference to Doctor Who- particularly the more recent series, as they were being broadcast at the same time as ''The Fire Eternal was released. Music *In the chapter Tea with Henry from The Fire Eternal, Henry talks about cut-outs of fairys "blowing in the wind." Liz responds "I don't think that's the answer, my friend." and "hummed". Altogether, this is a very good reference to Bob Dylan's classic song Blowin' in the Wind. Literature/ Writings *The Pennykettle household is 42 Wayward Crescent. There is a faint possibility that this is a reference to the "answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything", from Douglas Adams' books, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. *When Zanna is first introduced in the chapter On-line with Zanna ''from Icefire, the narration tells us that "People joked that Zanna had only come to Scrubbley because she'd missed the train to ''Hogwart's." This is a reference to J. K. Rowling's world famous Harry Potter series. *In Crossed words with Henry'' '''from ''Icefire, Henry tells David that the newspaper he is doing the crossword from is The Times. It is known for having tricky cryptic crosswords, which is something that Gadzooks seems to have no trouble with. *The name of the dragon Gollygosh Golightly, introduced in the chapter Well, golly... gosh! from Fire Star, may be a reference to Holly Golightly, the main character from the book and film Breakfast at Tiffany's. The link between the two is odd however, since Golly's personality does not reflect his namesake's. This might be excused by the fact that David says the name will work "until I can think of something better." *In Tea with Henry ''from ''The Fire Eternal, Henry mentions "the creator of Sherlock Holmes" and his belief in fairys. The narration informs the reader that this was "the world-famous author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle". Art *In Well, golly... gosh! from Fire Star, ''David compared a tea cup he once made in Art class to Salvador Dalí and his work. Dalí was a famous Surrealist painter, and his famous melting clocks emphasise that David made a ''really ''bad tea cup. Religion/Mythology *Gawain and Guinevere are both mentioned (in very different ways!) in Arthurian legend. Considering their close link in the books, and that they have a legend, it is highly likely that this is where d'Lacey sourced the names from. *Godith seems to act as the not-so-subtle equivalent to (a) god in the mythology of the books. The following point suggests possibly a more direct comparison with the Christian God. *"In the beginning was the auma, and the auma was all there was"- the beginning to ''Asleep in the folly, 2am, February 10th ''from ''Fire Star is a quite long reference to the book of Genesis from the Bible. *The Gaia principle (which can be argued to incorporate religious aspects despite also being scientific), first mentioned in David makes a wish From Icefire, is a key theme of The Last Dragon Chronicles. Zanna's description of the principle in this chapter ("the idea that the Earth is a living organism") is identical to the Gaia hypothesis- which can also be called the Gaia principle. Other *Bonnington the cat was supposedly named "after a mountain climber", as mentioned in the first chapter of The Fire Within -''Welcome to Wayward Crescent''- by Lucy. However, she also says that "he couldn't climb a beanbag", so it was by no means a complement. The climber in question seems to be Chris Bonington (sometimes spelt Bonnington). Category:Out of Book